BJacks

Here's the story behind the episode -- they rewrote it based on the Trump win:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...mp-and-sexism/

Jason

I've been a little underwhelmed by this season, and last night was no exception. The "lets be uber-topical make fun of what happened yesterday" is played out. If they can do something really funny, great! Just acknowledging what happened? Meh.

Deftones

The Gentleman's Club thing with the Bills was fantastic.

Neil M.

Agreed. I think that the continuity combined with the "six days to air" mentality doesn't work well.

PhantomStranger

This has been the most disappointing season of South Park in years. Closely binding the plot and certain characters to the election worked for a little while before falling completely apart.

stingermck

member??

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FTQbiNvZqaY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Bill Needle

I like the change of direction they took with Garrison/Trump, but the rest of the serialized story has run completely out of gas.

Josh-da-man

I think the problem with these serialized seasons is that they're running what should be a single episode over ten.

The member berries should only have been a single episode. The trolls should have only been a single episode. Butters' "weiners out" MRA thing should have been a single episode. Dragging all of these gags out week after week just makes them unfunny.

stingermck

For me, the serialized format they did last year brought me back, and I have really enjoyed this season as well.

cleaver

It hasn't been the strongest season but I still enjoy it more than almost any other comedy on TV. The 2nd or 3rd episode had almost no laughs but this one was pretty good. South Park is only show that's able to out ridiculous Trump for the purpose of satire for me.

slop101

Agreed.

It worked last season, mostly because they did stick to one or two things per episode, while having some threads continue. This season they took it too far, with every storyline spread out for the whole season. Hope they don't do it again.

Bill Needle

You pretty well captured the issue I have with this season.
A serialized, recurring gag such as adding in PC Principal and his takes to the mix is one thing, but stretching out the arrival of PC Principal over 8 episodes would not have been as good.

Even though I think they improved the Garrison storyline (hard not to) there still isn't all that much there to make a season long story out of unless they have something they haven't shown us yet. It isn't all that interesting any more, and they have kind of beaten what was there completely to death. It would be much better if he disappeared for an episode or three and then popped back up. And the memberberries thing just seems dumb at this point. It's like someone tells you a joke that you find funny and they enjoy your reaction so they just keep repeating the punch line over and over expecting the same laugh each time and can't figure out why instead you become annoyed.

PhantomStranger

+1

They ran the trolls joke into the ground.

Neil M.

Season 18 should have been the benchmark for how continuity would be used. They were individual episodes with references and consequences carried from episode to episode. I'm just hoping that this season is an anomaly and that they go back to that format. I don't mind continuity unless it feels forced. This season feels forced.

Red Dog

I thought last season was funny even though serialized. Serialized isn't the problem. Maybe because Trump is so Trump, a complete cartoon character himself, makes it harder to satirize. This season just isn't bringing the laughs.

Though I did at the waiting room for the Mars Trip and it simply being a Musk-led SpaceX tour.

PatD

South Park has been doing that loooooooong before they serialized their seasons.

stingermck

Season finale last night. Fell flat for me. Really the last 2 eps lost me, with the mars stuff. While the ball milking was funny, it was just too much to add near the end.

And needed more member berries. They made the season for me.

The Infidel

Hopefully the title of the episode hints that they'll go back to a regular episode format next season.

starseed1981

Been a fan of South Park since the late 90's. But that was easily the least funny season they've ever done. I don't mind the serialization at all but the narrative fell flat about three or four episodes into the season. I have a feeling they really had to call an audible once Trump won the election.

Groucho

Yeah, I've enjoyed the serialization in previous seasons but this one was a flop aside from a few funny jokes here and there. It was bit weird that they never dropped Cartman's heel turn.

Goat3001

I'm right there with you. This season just fell flat. South Park has had weak seasons before but even in those years you'd still have a gem or two just because every story was different. When you go the serial route, the entire season can fail if the premise doesn't work. That's what happened here.

A big missed opportunity if you ask me. If they decided to do regular format or even with minor story carryover then I think this season would have been great. They had so much material to work with that could have easily filled 10 single episodes.

Bill Needle

Totally agree with the disappointment expressed over this season. This might have been a good trilogy, but the premise was way too thin for ten.

Josh-da-man

Yeah, I've said it before... There wasn't much of an arc here and the whole season felt like a bunch of individual episodes smeared across the whole season.

Member Berries could have been a done-in-one.
Trolls could have been a two parter.
Weiners Out could have been a done-in-one.
Space-X could have been a done-in-one.
Give us a whole Bill Cosby episode.
A Garrison trying to get out of the the campaign.
An election episode.

Throw in a few more one-offs and there's a season.

Member berries weren't a strong enough concept to go past one episode. The troll payoff wasn't worth all of the build-up.

PhantomStranger

I gave up on the last few episodes of this season. They are the first new South Park episodes I've missed in years.

Jason

Did the 'member berry storyline even get resolved? They went to the White House, and they're in the oval office with Garrison. That's it?

This season just didn't work.